``Whatever problems you're having, you need to work them out,'' she said.

McNichol, whose case is headed to trial, was in court Thursday to discuss a motion he filed in April asking that Coffin be withdrawn as his attorney.

``I can't work with a lawyer that doesn't want to work with me,'' he said.

McNichol does not qualify for a public defender and he said he cannot afford to hire another attorney.

He is accused of sexually assaulting a girl for 10 years, beginning when she was 5 years old, according to an arrest affidavit. He is also accused of abusing two boys.

The girl told police he made her take her clothes off and touched her inappropriately, the affidavit states. She alleges that McNichol beat her when she wouldn't do what he asked and told her she would get in trouble if anyone found out.

The abuse ended around 2002 when the girl wrote him a letter in which she said she was no longer afraid of him and threatened to tell police.

He is charged with first-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault and two counts of risk of injury.